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The Hunting Grounds

The Hunting Grounds

Long ago this plot of land was considered a public park, kept trimmed and proper – as well as protected against the incursions of mutants and their ilk – by a division of Omni-Tek that was later felt to be a misappropriation of funds. It was felt that, with the war against Clan and the newly increased threat of the Dust Brigade and a large portion of funds being reallocated towards the beachhead in the outzones that the division of wilderness protection be one of the first to go.

These days, with the lack of protection, it has become home to various camps of mutants and other degenerate life forms and is generally seen as unsafe for citizens to travel in. There has been few talks of clearing it out and bringing it back to it's former glory but nothing has ever gotten past the planning stage when Omni-Tek continually refuses to fund the revitalization.

However, thanks to a few private investors, certain areas of the old park have been cleaned up some, becoming safe havens against the brutal mass of creatures that exist in the untamed forest and grass land – the largest of these areas is a place, funded by an organization that wished to remain nameless, for 'under the table' combat.
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The playfield will have PvM and PvP activities.

PvM

The premise of this zone is an open playfield containing a massive forest overgrown with tall grass. By tall I mean taller then players. It should be hard to see far in front of you as you progress through the pathless area. All monsters in the area are concealed and gain massive concealment buff from the grass (meaning if they wander out of the grass they lose their buff and will more then likely been seen by anyone) and of course only unconceal (now with no system chat notification) to come charging at someone.

This could be particularly hazardous with social groups (ie one attacks, you fight back, a bunch more unconceal and attack).

The zone should be progressive, starting at fairly low levels and working up to harder groups. It should be classic RK stuff, start with some ubah pwnzor Leet groups or something and work up to Pit Lizards and Cyborgs and various other mean and nasty native Rubi-Ka groups. For fun's sake I say there should be a super high Leet dyna ^^

Scattered throughout the zone are 'safe havens', areas that have been cleared of all concealing grass that have a few shops or medical stations, perhaps a few could have reclaim, so that you can rest now and then if you're doing a run into heavy, high level monsters. There should be some section of the zone that's challenging to all levels, even 220s. If a low level follows in the wake of a high level team they may find themselves kissing reclaim from high level respawns.

There should be 'special' monsters that remains concealed and does not attack on sight and must be pulled out of conceal and attacked. These would drop the really good loot.

Additional Idea – Safe havens should start blank, nothing there, a few squatter bums who you can buy some cheap (low QL) meds off of and that's it. From there you have to be the private investors paying an Omni-Tek official in order for things to be added. Sort of like global research (but without sides) once the community pays n number of credits the safe havens are improved (I don't know if this can be done without patching hence why it's not part of the main idea). This can be a major credit sink, talking like some billions of credits to get certain things added to the havens. It also works to make it feel like we built this place, and it's not just yet another zone to walk into.

PvP

The largest Safe Haven (meaning it isn't a separate zone, but that people doing PvM can walk past and see a fight going on) is reserved for a new PvP arena simply called 'The Pit' (because I lack that much imagination as I brainstorm this entire zone, so shush ) which, as you may have guessed, is a big pit in the ground with some seating set up around the perimeter.

The Pit itself is the PvP zone, not the seating/observer area around the outside, to enter the zone simple jump down into it and have at the enemy. Only The Pit will be 25% gas.

To my mind it should be about the size of the area you fight The Collector in, as well as borrow a few aspects from it. Namely the spikes on the walls (this is to prevent jumping out of The Pit but still allow jumping in) and that each sides 'decon' will be up on a platform similar to what The Collector starts on to prevent spawn camping (due to spikes and a big ass wall). The exits to the Pit are located in the back of the decon area.

Players may enter and leave as they wish. There is no level lock or separate of level ranges, 1 to 220 use the same Pit.

In the Pit, clearly visible to everyone, are five hills set up like the dots on the #5 side of a die. (for those that don't know that's the singular of dice). These hills are the goal. Randomly one hill will be active (leaving the other 4 inactive) but with no visual indication of it's state.

Players will have to make their way to the top of a hill, against combat by the other side, and; if the hill is the active one, they'll cause a shout to go out like “Omni has the Hill!!” (not stating which hill of course).

From there it's a fight to keep the hill, and keep it with the highest numbers. Because there is no level lock a level 50 could sit on the active hill and hold it against 20 220s because they can't attack them. Thus it is not the side that reached the hill first but the side that has the greatest number of players on the hill that controls it. Control the hill long enough and it deactivates (making another of the 5 hills active) and awards the conquering participants an amount of VP (using a equation based on level so that same level 50, should their side win, doesn't get the same VP as a 220) and a short term buff (some RP “Boosted Moral”).

Only people on the hill at the time of it's conquering get a rewards, this means that those sitting in decon or PvPing elsewhere in the Pit don't get the VP or buff. This is why there is no need for a time limit to the zone or any kind of /afk or deserter function. Those who want to run, can, they just lose out on any reward. Provided they can get past the spikes.. and with the exit only existing in their sides decon they either have to meep or die anyway. (To prevent uncontested farming there should be a limit to the number of players required on each side before the hills become active, but the Pit will always be 25% gas so that if you don't have enough people to start the game of king of the hill you can at least PvP)

Due to the nature of entering the Pit (ie no sign up required) Neutrals are a bit of a tricky issue but the way I figure they'll side with the side that they first help. ie. A Neutral enters the Pit and attacks a Clan – that means they're helping Omni and until such time as they leave the Pit and return (possible with some lockout, not on returning but on the Pit forgetting their side, so that they can't just switch to the winning side).

Should a Neutral die before they attack a side (leaving them true Neutral) they'll respawn at a random decon rather then the side they're helping.

This Battlecruiser shoots, it destroys, but wait.. there's more. SC2 Reference
This isn't just a place to have rampant PvP where you can run out of decon instantly and rejoin the fight you just died at making it a never ending tide of bad guys running at you in a mayhem of alphas and pets.. there's some reward for PvPing itself even if you ignore the hills.

Killing a person in single combat (you're not in a team, doesn't matter if they are so long as you kill them) will allot you their Dog Tags, a non-physical item that gives you a special title based on your side (something like “Honorary Sentinel” for Clan and “Honorary Unicorn” for Omni, and something for Neutral that I can't think of atm) once you gain a few.

But if they kill you, they'll take your Dog Tags and then you have to get them replaced and that means you loose standing with your side because you're giving the other side bragging rights against you and your side.

Additional Idea – Again not sure if this is possible but, taken largely from Battlefield 2142 where in getting someones dog tags was major epeen (as it required you to stab them, not shoot them in a world where everyone has a big mean gun), have a “Dog Tags:” and “Unique Dog Tags:” field. If you kill the same guy twice you'll have two DTs but only one unique. UDTs could be found in some interface like the friend list (ie. Where you'd have “Ayria” as a friend instead it's like “Ayria's Dog Tags”) or something like a bank where you can have physical items (this I particularly like as it also means you get to loot said dog tags off the rotting corpse of your victim) that you can link to chat where they can then see that you have this persons DTs meaning you killed them.

Additional Idea #2 - Similar to the Safe Havens it could be a credit sink to buy upgrades for the Pit area, like actual seats (meaning it starts as a bunch of dirt people get to stand around watching) and medical terminals and the like.

Feel free to add your own ideas or suggest changes to what I have here.

There is literally nothing wrong with {Shutdown Skills} in it's current incarnation. What should be being looked at is the reason why it's needed so much. E.g, the incredible amount of Alpha being thrown around and the fickleness of Evade profs.

Originally Posted by Cratertina

I walk in to BS... could not perk people... with 3704 AR and 300 AAD drain... NT facerolled me, shade instagibbed me, after a few minutes I just decided not gonna bother.

TL DR - Big zone with mean ass mobs that pop out and gank you, along with a possible massive credit sink and a place to go and smack other players upside the head for a possible physical brag rights item.